Yakima panhandler found dead with half-pound of heroin, needle in his arm

A panhandler who routinely worked a
busy Yakima intersection was found dead in his car with $1,700 in cash
and a half-pound of heroin, police said.

Douglas D. Budd, 56, had a
hypodermic needle in his arm and apparently died of a drug overdose on
Tuesday night in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant, the Yakima
Herald-Republic reported Thursday.

However, the official cause of death was pending the results of toxicology tests, which take four to six weeks.

It appeared Budd spilled his strawberry shake on himself because the death was so sudden, police said.

Budd
had been under investigation for drug dealing and split his time
between dealing and panhandling, police Capt. Rod Light said.

"He used to work the southwest corner of First and Nob Hill Boulevard," Light said. "He was one of our regulars."

While
some panhandlers may be genuinely down on their luck or homeless, the
ones who hold signs all day at busy intersections are usually not, Light
said.

"Some of these guys are violent offenders and have long
criminal records. I think there's this feeling or belief that these
people trudge down to the bridge at night and sleep in the dirt," he
said. "That's not the case."

Budd had a criminal history that
included 16 misdemeanor convictions for shoplifting as well as felony
convictions for burglary, drug possession and theft of a firearm,
according to court records.

Acting on complaints of aggressive
panhandling by some people who were only pretending to be homeless, the
City Council in 2010 added parking lots to places where the practice is
prohibited.

However, the council sidestepped calls for
prohibitions against panhandling close to ATMs or street corners, saying
the city had more important problems to handle.